Courtroom Confrontation V: The Scream Takagi Heard
by Swagnarok
Summary: The anime-original character Reiko Kujo returns for another lawyer battle with Eri. This time, Eri reluctantly defends a man who quite obviously and remorselessly killed his wife. Is this the end of her winning streak? Episode 954.


They reached the crossing.

"It's still green!" Conan said, panting as he ran. "We can still...!"

The pedestrian traffic light turned red.

"...Dang it," Conan said.

"This one's really long, isn't it?" Nancy asked.

"Five minutes long," Conan confirmed. "I explicitly remember having waited five minutes at this crossing once. You still got it all intact, right?"

"Well, it's all stapled together so it's not like I could just lose a page or two," Nancy said.

"Stapling papers together is overrated," Conan said. "You hold it wrong and it can tear. I prefer binder clips."

Nancy smiled. "You used to walk around in public with one of those clipped on your nose, right?"

"Yeah, I thought it was kind of funny at the time," Conan said, a bit embarrassed. "I mean, some adults really overreacted to that. I was just a dumb kid then, of course."

"You're still a kid though."

"Yeah, well, I guess the only difference is that now I'm a really smart kid."

The light turned green.

"...It hasn't been five minutes yet, has it?" Nancy asked.

"I guess they shortened it," Conan said.

They crossed the street. Just three blocks away was the courthouse, where they were headed in order to hand Eri an important document that she forgot at home.

 **Scene Transition**

They entered the building, went up to the front desk, and asked about the location of Eri's current trial. They were told the third floor, so they took the elevator and walked across the hallway.

There they came across Midori Kuriyama, who was Eri's secretary. She was standing right outside the door to the courtroom.

"Ah, Conan-kun!" Midori said. "And you must be Nancy. Sensei's told me about you."

Nancy handed the papers to Midori. "Can you give this to _oka_...er, I mean, Auntie Eri?"

Midori skimmed through the front page in a split second and nodded. "I'll make sure she gets it. You two came all the way here just to deliver this?"

"W-well, school just got out and it's only like a fifteen minute walk from here," Conan said.

"I heard Auntie Eri's got a new case," Nancy said eagerly. "Can you tell me anything about it?"

Midori suddenly looked very serious. Sad, even. She stared out into distant space. "...It's very unusual. Sensei's behavior, that is. I don't understand why she would've ever taken it when we know what we do, but..."

She looked down at Conan and Nancy. "Anyways, this isn't a place for children, so you two ought to head on home now."

Conan and Nancy nodded. "Okay."

As they walked back towards the elevator...

"Now I just gotta know," Nancy said.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

 **Scene Transition**

The presiding judge slammed the gavel into the sound block. "These criminal proceedings will now begin."

Nobody in the courtroom noticed the door slowly creaking open, just enough for a child to stick his face up to it and peek inside.

The so-called Madonna of Prosecutors, Reiko Kujo, took the stand. Clad in a power suit, her jet-black hair, and a thick layer of makeup on her face, she looked ready to kick legal butt.

"As a friendly last minute reminder to the jury, the defendant is Ryotaka Yamaizumi, a man who stands accused of brutally murdering his wife, Kazuko, in cold blood. The Tokyo police have investigated the matter thoroughly and per my contacts within the police, they're reasonably certain that he's the culprit. That being said, I'll let the Defense go first."

Conan crouched down so that Nancy could lean over him, that way they could both look inside.

"I think I've heard about this," Nancy whispered. "I saw it on the evening news three days ago. Officer Takagi was the discoverer of the crime, if I'm not mistaken. The body was found in the killer and the victim's apartment."

Conan nodded.

Eri Kisaki took the stand. She hesitated, and troubled look on her face.

"...Is something wrong, Attorney Kisaki?" The Presiding Judge asked.

"...No, it's nothing."

Her composure regained, Eri continued: "On behalf of my client, I demand that the accused be released from custody, and that all charges against him be dropped, effective immediately."

"Huuuh?" Conan and Nancy both said, a bit too loudly.

 **Opening**

(Cup of Trembling by B'z)

(Each fresh breath of life is a fresh chance to start anew! Eri's startling ultimatum to the judge and jury: the bold-faced killer must walk! Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is...DETECTIVE CONAN!)

Above all, I'm afraid of you seeing me like this

The youthful vigor sapped from my bones

Too afraid to proceed, too afraid to turn back

A wretch, recoiling from my own shadow

Wallowing in self-pity like a pig wallowing in its crap

I can't check my phone, lest you might try to call

I can't live at home, lest you might try to visit

All I have left is the clothes on my back and

That dreaded bottle, whose contents I dare not drink

Oh I'm going nowhere, a pinwheel spinning in circles

This Cup of Trembling I now raise to my lips and swallow

So I may face the demons haunting my restless nights

I can't show my face to you until I can call myself a man

Until I've walked a full moon carrying my cross

 **Courtroom Confrontation V: The Scream Takagi Heard**

"On behalf of my client," Eri said, "I demand that the accused be released from custody, and that all charges against him be dropped, effective immediately."

This was enough to set the courtroom into a furor.

The judge banged his gavel again. "Order! There will be order in this court!"

The defendant, Ryotaka Yamaizumi, age 37, a burly looking man wearing a jumpsuit, grinned.

Officer Takagi, who was seated in the courtroom along with Chiba and Shiratori, remained silent.

Reiko raised her hand. "Your honor, may I ask Attorney Kisaki on what grounds her request is based?"

"I am happy to answer," Eri said, though the look on her face wasn't a happy one. "I've asked the three discoverers of the crime, Wataru Takagi, Kazunobu Chiba, and Ninzaburo Shiratori, to bear witness here today as to what transpired then. Your honor, I now ask your permission to question the witnesses."

"Proceed."

Takagi, Chiba, and Shiratori walked to the stand.

"Raise your right hand, please," Eri said.

They did so.

"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, under pains and penalties of perjury?" Eri said.

"I do," Takagi said.

"I do," Chiba said.

"I do," Shiratori said.

"Then let the questioning commence," Eri said. "First of all, please tell us what happened, starting from the top."

"Well, that day the three of us were on duty," Takagi said.

"But we stopped to get some lunch," Chiba said.

"And then we got a call from Inspector Megure telling us the police were just tipped off about a possible violent altercation between a husband and wife," Shiratori said. "We were given the address and then rushed to the apartment complex where they lived."

"When we knocked on the door, though, the couple answered and told us everything was fine and that no such fight took place," Chiba said.

"So naturally, then we began to leave," Takagi said. "As we passed by the apartment home belonging to the Yamaizumis, I heard a scream."

"So he got our help in breaking down the locked door and we went inside to help," Shiratori said. "That was when we came across the body, and the man now accused was standing over her, a bloodied trophy in his hands."

"At that point, Takagi took out a pair of handcuffs and arrested him on the spot," Chiba said. "Then we called the police to the scene of the crime and the rest is history."

Reiko raised her hand. "Your honor, it would seem that even the Defense doesn't dispute who committed the crime."

"That's correct," Eri said. "But your honor, that actually isn't the question we should be asking. First of all, did either of you hear the scream?"

"No, I have to say I didn't," Shiratori said.

"Neither did I," Chiba said. "It was just Takagi who heard it."

Reiko raised her hand again. "Perhaps Officer Takagi was the only one standing close enough to the door to hear it?"

"A scream like the one I heard then?" Takagi said. "I doubt it. They were only like two or three feet from where I was standing."

"Your honor, there's another relevant witness I'd like to call up," Eri said.

She looked straight at a man in the pews, who stood up and walked to the stand.

She recited the oath of testimony and he swore to it.

"You're an official coroner with the Tokyo police department, correct?" Eri asked.

"That I am," the middle aged man said.

"Do you have all the proper and required credentials for your line of work?" Eri asked.

"Yes, I am qualified for the job title that I hold," he said.

"Therefore should your conclusions and findings upon conducting autopsies be considered an expert's opinion?" Eri asked.

"Yes."

"Given the testimony you just heard, is it possible for Officer Takagi to have heard that woman scream?"

"No, it isn't," he said.

"Why?"

"Because the body had been dead for several hours prior to discovery," the coroner said. "I'm certain of that."

"N-no," Takagi muttered.

Chiba and Shiratori looked at him, not sure what to think.

The coroner returned to his seat.

"I am sorry, Officer Takagi, but what you did was illegal," Eri said. "Article 35 of the Japanese Constitution states that: The right of all persons to be secure in their homes, papers, and effects against entries, searches, and seizures shall not be impaired except upon warrant issued for adequate cause and particularly describing the place to be searched and things to be seized, or except as provided by Article 33."

She continued, "Article 33 states that: "No person shall be apprehended except upon warrant issued by a competent judicial officer which specifies the offense with which the person is charged, unless he is apprehended, the offense being committed."

"In short, an exception to this rule can only be made if before the search and seizure a police officer witnesses or is notified of an ongoing crime or one that has been committed already, or one that is about to be committed, and subsequently arrests the person in question for the offense of which it is known was, is being, or would've been committed," Eri said. "The scream that Takagi supposedly heard never existed to begin with, since two competent witnesses have testified to the contrary, and the door to the apartment was locked, so there was no reason whatsoever for them to assume at the time that a crime was being committed or had been committed inside that home. Hence, the above exception does not apply, and the act of three police officers on duty entering the home to randomly conduct a search was unlawful."

"By extension, all evidence obtained through the illegal search, or any evidence that was later obtained, even by warrant, because of knowledge gained from the initial illegal search, is inadmissible in a court of law," Eri concluded. "Thus, the accused cannot be tried for the crime of murdering his wife...even if he did do it. For the above reasons the very fact of this trial, and especially the continued detainment of my client by the police, is in itself illegal and a violation of his constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties."

Reiko was visibly furious, though she struggled to regain her cool and not lose control of herself.

Conan noticed right then and there that something was wrong with Nancy.

"Come, I think we've eavesdropped on them enough," he said. "Let's go home."

 **Scene Transition**

Conan and Nancy stepped outside.

He looked at her again; her face looked mortified, and she was actually trembling very slightly.

"...I can hardly believe it either," he said, wanting to break the silence. "But, maybe you should give your mother the benefit of the doubt?"

She didn't reply but instead just kept walking, a little faster now, not looking up.

He grabbed her arm and she flinched. Realizing that was the wrong call, he let go. The two of them just stood there.

"...Can you at least say something?" Conan asked.

"Like what?"

"Anything!" Conan said. "Whatever you're feeling right now!"

"What I feel...!" she began. "Mother, she...she...! That guy killed his wife, and my mother, she...! She won! She didn't just ease his sentence, she said he shouldn't be punished at all, after what he did!"

She punched a light pole, leaving a sizable crack in it despite the fact it was made out of galvanized steel. A few passerbys looked on with amazement.

"S-so you can still do that in your child body, huh," Conan muttered, making a mental note not to get on her bad side.

They crossed the street.

"I...I don't feel like talking right now, Shinichi," she said. "Not to anyone."

They went home, and as soon as Nancy/Ran's face hit the pillow she broke out into sobbing.

 **Scene Transition**

 **The Next Day**

They kneeled at the short kitchen table and ate breakfast. It was quiet, really quiet. Neither Conan nor Nancy looked up at Eri.

"...Is something wrong?" Eri asked them, a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

Kogoro was busy reading the newspaper, but then he put it down.

"Hmph," he said. "Men like me put our lives on the line trying to catch these psychopaths, and then women like you convince the jury to let them go on some stupid technicality. No wonder they say lawyers are crooks."

Indeed: Eri's stunt had made the front page of the Beika Times issue for that day.

Eri rose angrily. "Is that why all of you are acting like this?!"

"It's true, isn't it?!" Kogoro insisted. "I know you don't like losing, but come on! What you did yesterday was downright crooked! The guy totally deserved to go to jail, if not worse! Like, maybe if he was really innocent, I could understand that, but...!"

"You think I need you to understand, you deadbeat cop?!" Eri retorted.

"I'm your husband so yeah!" Kogoro said. "Maybe a little heads up would be nice! Geez."

"If you really must know, I think I did the right thing," Eri said. "Not for my winning record, but in terms of morality."

"How the h*ll can you call letting a shameless murderer go free the right thing?!" Kogoro said.

"Enough!" Eri said. "Conan-kun and Nancy-kun can hear us adults yelling loud and clear, you know!"

She turned to them both. "Finish eating so you aren't late for school. I'll be home late today."

They got up, poured the remainder of their breakfast ramen into the sink, and subsequently went out the door.

 **Scene Transition**

The school bell rang. Nancy immediately bolted for the locker room, and Conan followed after her.

So did their young comrades.

"Hey, Nancy, Conan!" Mitsuhiko called out, running after then.

Nancy quickly opened her locker and conducted her business there. Conan did the same.

"Why are you two in a hurry to go?" Ayumi asked

"Not today, guys!" Conan said.

"Huh?" Genta said.

"We've got something important that needs doing," Conan said. "So we can't play with you guys today. Just head on home quickly, the streets aren't safe right now."

"Just like that?!" Genta demanded.

"Just let them go," Haibara said. "I'm sure they'll have time to play tomorrow."

Nancy and Conan finished and were on their way. Haibara quickly finished with her locker business and then followed after them.

 **Scene Transition**

Reiko sat at her desk, twirling a pen. The ceiling fan overhead cast a spinning shadow on the floor and the desk.

"Is Prosecutor Kujo in right now?" she could hear Eri saying from the adjacent room.

"Yes, Kujo-sensei is in there waiting for you," her assistant, Sasaki, said.

Eri entered and approached Reiko.

"...I heard that Officer Takagi has been put on unpaid leave," Reiko said. "He may even lose his job."

She sighed. "Congratulations, Eri. The criminal gets off Scot-free while the policeman who was simply doing his job might end up losing it. You win again, I suppose."

"To blazes with my winning streak!" Eri said. "I did it because the law said we couldn't prosecute him!"

"You could've just turned him down as a client then!" Reiko retorted.

There was a long pause. But then...

"Reiko, I trust you're well aware of the issues facing our national police force?" Eri said. "Per our constitution, a confession obtained under duress is not legally permissible in court. Or so the rules state. In reality, how many people have been put behind bars for this?"

"It's a widespread practice, I'll admit," Reiko said.

"Of those forced confessions, how many were given by innocent people who just wanted to escape that highly unpleasant interrogation room no matter without regard to the long-term costs of such?" Eri asked.

"Probably quite a few," Reiko admitted.

"That's why I became a lawyer in the first place," Eri said. "Our working legal system, while certainly not infallible, is good enough for the purpose that it serves. But the system is perverted and twisted whenever police officers and judges, even those with the best of intentions, break that code in an overzealous pursuit of justice. But how can justice be served when they've got the wrong man?"

"Then you've got evidence your client was innocent?" Reiko demanded.

"That's not the point, Prosecutor Kujo!" Eri declared with great conviction. "Everything falls apart when individuals in positions of authority think they're above the law! That's how dictatorships are born! The rule of law must come before other concerns, even if a few slimeballs like Yamaizumi are allowed to slip in between the cracks as a result. And anyhow, even for people like him...surely there is a higher judge, one who won't be hindered by our limited information or fear of moral corruption. Yamaizumi will face the consequences for his actions, one way or another."

"I'm not asking you to agree with my decision, Prosecutor Kujo," Eri finished. "I understand that we have two very different philosophies on justice, which I'm guessing is why you're a Prosecutor, and why we've butted heads in court so many times before. I simply ask that you respect my decision, and accept that I made it in good faith, if nothing else."

There was a pause. Eri half expected the hot-blooded prosecutor to start screaming at her.

Then Reiko sighed. "Regardless of what you or I think, what's done is done. I only hope that we never come across another case like this one."

"Agreed."

 **Scene Transition**

Conan, Nancy, and Haibara took the elevator to the third floor of the apartment.

"So this is it?" Haibara asked. "Where the crime took place."

"That's what the files on mom's desk said," Nancy said.

"Hmm, I can't help but think about how weird it would be to call somebody your mom when you can only say it behind her back," Haibara said.

Nancy just looked at Haibara funny.

"Sorry, I guess that's kind of a sensitive topic for you," Haibara said.

They found the room number and went up to the door when they saw...

"Huuh? Officer Takagi?" Conan said.

There was a marked difference in the police detective's appearance; he was still dressed in his pajamas and some stubble could be seen growing on his face. Furthermore, his hair was messy and there were bags in his eyes.

"C-Conan-kun!" Takagi said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"The same as you, apparently," Haibara said.

"We're here about that case," Nancy said. "The killer who Eri Kisaki acquitted."

"I take it there's a reason that you're just standing out here?" Conan asked.

"He...He's inside right now," Takagi said. "Yamaizumi. He's apparently hung over after spending the night partying hard. Truly a disgusting man he is, by the looks of things."

Then Conan saw it.

"H-hold on," Conan said. "That picture..."

Outside in the hallway there was a famous painting of Vincent Van Gogh's, titled _The Starry Night_ , to the right of the door.

"Takagi- _keiji_ , I need you to remember," Conan said. "When you heard the scream, were you standing near this painting?"

"Uh, yeah, come to think of it I was," Takagi said.

"And on the other side of this door," Conan said. "Was there a...?"

"TAKAGI-KUN!"

Detective Sato came running up to them.

"Takagi-kun, what are you doing here?" Sato asked. "Why haven't you returned my calls? How come when you never came home last night?"

"S-sorry," Takagi said. "I was staking out Yamaizumi's home all last night and today. I guess my phone battery died and I forgot to charge it."

"Y-you've been here all night?!" Sato said. "Why?"

"I figured he might try to dispose of some remaining evidence afterwards," Takagi said.

"You're still going on about that?!" Sato said. "Hey now, didn't Chiba-kun and Shiratori-kun both confirm there was no scream?"

"I'm telling you!" Takagi said. "I didn't make it up! I really did hear it"

"Then maybe you imagined it?" Sato snapped back.

"A scream like that? No way!" Takagi said.

"Takagi-kun, what happened then was unfortunate, but it doesn't have to be the end of your career," Sato said. "We can all just put this incident behind us and you'll be allowed to return to work after a time. What you're doing now isn't helping anything. If anything, you're courting a lawsuit against the Tokyo Metropolitan Police by Yamaizumi for stalking him in his home."

They heard footsteps.

Yamaizumi opened the door. His appearance was even more disheveled than Takagi's, and his eyes were bloodshot. He hiccuped and grinned.

"You again, huh?" he said. "Officer Takagi, if I recall. Well, you probably aren't an officer of anything now."

Takagi's hands were clenched tightly into fists.

"Well, I guess I should be thanking you," Yamaizumi went on, still grinning. "If not for you, I might've actually been punished. It would seem the Tokyo police really are a bunch of idiots after all."

"Why you!" Takagi began.

Sato grabbed him and pulled him back.

"No, you can't!" she hissed. "Takagi-kun, just walk away!"

Takagi calmed down and she let go of him.

"Yamaizumi-san, I encourage you to make the most of however much time you have left as a free man," Takagi said. "Because one day, you're going down for murder, or for something, at least."

Yamaizumi burst into laughter. "Oh, that's rich! Whatever, I don't wanna waste any more time on you."

Suddenly, Conan started hopping up and down. "Ah, ah, ah! Mister, I have to see! Lemme at your toilet!"

He ran inside.

"H-HEY!" Yamaizumi roared.

He grabbed Conan by the back collar of his shirt and literally threw him back outside.

Then he slammed the door shut.

Nancy and Haibara went to tend to Conan, since he slammed into the wall kind of hard.

But to their surprise he just grinned. _Naru nodo_ , he thought.

 **Scene Transition**

Eri sat in her office, drinking coffee.

"Kisaki-sensei, it's a call from your husband!" Midori said.

She handed the phone to Eri.

"Yes?" Eri responded.

"Eri, I'd like to see you right away," Kogoro said. "It's about that case."

"H-hold on, if you just wanna bash me over it again, I'm really not in the...!"

"That's not it," Kogoro said. "I think I've figured it out, an element to this case which neither you nor Prosecutor Kujo know about, much less brought up in court."

"Heeh? How do you know so much about what was said then?" Eri pressed.

"Th-that's not important," Kogoro said.

"Where do you want to meet? At home?"

"The courthouse, in the room where Yamaizumi's brief trial was held."

"Why on earth would you want to talk there?" Eri asked, kind of annoyed.

"J-just be there, please!"

And with that, Conan/Kogoro hung up.

He sighed. That should be everyone, he thought.

 **Scene Transition**

Eri stepped into the courtroom to find it full of people: the jurors, the presiding judge, her husband, Prosecutor Kujo, Nancy, Conan, Takagi, Sato, and of course, Yamaizumi.

"W-what's the meaning of all this?!" she demanded to Kogoro.

"Eh? Weren't you the one who wanted to...?"

At that moment, Kogoro felt a pinprick on his neck. He felt drowsy, very drowsy. And weak, and dizzy. Standing was too much to take. He fell onto a chair, into his Sleeping Kogoro position.

Everyone in the courtroom took notice that Detective Mouri was now in his signature sleeping pose, which invariably meant a mystery was about to be solved.

"You're doing that thing, right?" Yamaizumi said. "Wait, does that mean you've...?"

"Yeah, I figured it out, Yamaizumi-san," Conan/Kogoro said. "Did you enjoy your wild partying last night? Because it's the last time you'll get to enjoy alcohol for quite a while."

"Hmph, maybe you weren't there yesterday, but...the jury quite explicitly acquitted me," Yamaizumi said.

"Wrong, it was a mistrial. Nobody's denying your guilt, not even you the culprit. Since it was a mistrial, consider this a redo, in light of new evidence against you, evidence that invalidates the exclusionary clause of the law that you were so dependent upon for your release."

"What are you blabbering about?" Yamaizumi scoffed.

"Alright, have it your way," Conan/Kogoro said.

The judge rose from his seat and rushed for the door.

"Please wait, your honor," Conan/Kogoro said.

"There's no time!" the judge said. "Didn't you hear that woman screaming?"

Upon hearing this, Yamaizumi suddenly looked extremely uneasy.

"I have one question," Conan/Kogoro said. "Aside from the judge, did anybody here hear a woman screaming just now?"

People started murmuring amongst each other but the clear answer was no.

"Your honor, if you'll look under your desk you should see it: A phone that I placed there. By remote control I opened the sound app and played a recording of a woman screaming."

Confused, the judge looked under his desk and found the phone.

"Officer Takagi, now do you get it?" Conan/Kogoro asked. "No? Let me refresh your memory. When you enter Yamaizumi's apartment, almost immediately to the right is a small closet. On the other side of the closet wall is the outside hallway, where the Van Gogh picture was hanging on the wall. Imagine what would happen if you carve a hole in the wall from the closet, so that you can touch the inside of the painting. From there, you simply put the phone in the hole, so that it's leaning against the inside of the painting, but not visible to a person standing out in the hallway, unless the painting was taken down."

"What happened was probably something like this," Conan/Kogoro said. "First, Yamaizumi killed his wife. Then, he sent the police an anonymous tip about a couple who lived nearby fighting. The police subsequently dispatched three officers to serve as peacemakers. From there, Yamaizumi knew they'd pass by his front door, and by extension the painting next to the door. He saw them coming through the peephole on his door, and also by the sound of them talking. One of the three men, Officer Takagi, was standing closest to the portrait. At that moment Yamaizumi activated the sound on his phone, the sound of a woman screaming. He had set it up carefully so that the sound would only travel a limited distance, perhaps through turning the volume all the way up and then plugging in some earbuds. Because of this setup, the sound only reached Takagi, though it was loud enough for him to hear clearly. It was enough to get him to bust the door down and unwittingly search the home without a warrant, thus making any and all evidence of your crime inadmissible in court. For when the police came, you could simply cover up the closet hole with a poster or something."

"S-so then, you really did hear...?" Sato said to Takagi.

"Of course, you're going to want proof," Conan/Kogoro finished. "I contacted the landlady of the apartment complex, and she had the picture taken down, which revealed a medium-sized hole. She told me she's more than willing to testify in court, if it means a brazen murderer gets the punishment he deserves. Eri, Prosecutor Kujo, I trust you two can take the rest from here?"

Eri looked Reiko in the eye from across the room. They both nodded.

"Your honor, I soundly admit defeat in this case," Eri said. "From this point on I will be cooperating with the Prosecution to see Yamaizumi convicted."

"There certainly are grounds for this now," Reiko said. "As Yamaizumi set up the phone trick in the hopes that Officer Takagi would enter the home, this amounts to an unspoken but nonetheless perfect valid invitation to witness the crime scene and the evidence pertaining to such. Hence, no warrant was required for the search and seizure of the Yamaizumi residence, and all evidence derived from such is legally admissible as in a normal case. On these grounds, his conviction should be swift and damning."

After this, Yamaizumi broke down and confessed to everything. His motive was that his wife was going to divorce him and she threatened a very expensive settlement. It was, thus, a crime motivated by both greed and passion.

Swag

 **Ending**

(Spirit by Rina Aiuchi)

There are only two kinds of people in this complex world

Those who'll fight for what's precious and everyone else

Sometimes I lay awake at night wondering why this is

Is it perhaps that we believe all hope is already lost?

It takes a lot less effort to tap out and forfeit the prize

Hang our heads in shame and defeat, a prisoner of war

Too many voices have cried out "Awaken, thou that sleepest!"

What we need is soothing balm so these bones may stir again

Come, you and me, together let's put on a show for the ages

Hurry, the curtain rises, the epic drama begins to unfold!

Oh you graceful swan, dancing in the middle of the downpour

All the world's your stage, and every eye is fixed on you

You've got heart, and nobody can ever take that away from you

Give them what they came for, the indomitable human spirit!

 **Post-Ending**

In celebration of the mutually desirable trial resolution, Reiko Kujo treated Eri and her family to a late dinner.

Conan and Nancy stood in the buffet line waiting to fill their plates.

"So, have you learned anything today?" Conan asked.

Nancy nodded. "I learned to have a little faith...that my special person wouldn't betray me so easily."

Reiko stood next to Eri as she filled her bowl with cheap ice cream. "As usual, it was a pleasure doing battle with you."

"Again, it was never supposed to be a battle," Eri insisted. "The Prosecution and the Defense should want the same thing: that justice be served the way that it should."

There was a pause.

"But yeah, I totally kicked your butt yesterday," Eri said, grinning.

"Why you little...!" Reiko said rashly. "Just you wait, Attorney Kisaki! My victory today was just the beginning! I'll keep on winning until I've won at least as many of our bouts as you have!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Eri retorted. "You only won today because of my husband!"

Every eye in the restaurant was fixed on the two attractive middle-aged women arguing loudly.

 _Oy_ , _oy_ , we can hear you from across the room, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

 **End of Episode**


End file.
